Wedding
A wedding is a ceremony that is performed to legally bind two individuals seeking a marriage as a couple, usually as a husband and wife. Wedding ceremonies vary depending on culture, but the most common feature of the ceremony is the presence of a minister (usually a priest or a judge) who is given privilege as well as religious and/or legal authority to unite the couple together. The families and friends of both persons are usually invited as witnesses of the marriage, though for wedding ceremonies that are intended to be private the number of witnesses may be few and do not necessarily have to be related to either of the persons being married. Legal marriages before judges do not require more than a few witnesses to make the wedding a valid ceremony. In most weddings that take place in Western cultures, the bride is accompanied by a maid of honor, a few bridesmaids, and a flower girl, while the bridegroom is accompanied by a best man, a few ushers, and a ring bearer. The "father of the bride" escorts the bride to the altar in religious wedding ceremonies to her bridegroom at the beginning of the ceremony, and both the bride and bridegroom exchange vows together before the minister officially declares the couple to be husband and wife. In cultures where gay marriages are not legally recognized, commitment ceremonies would be held where the two men or two women seeking to be united with each other pledge their vows together before witnesses with a minister (officially ordained or otherwise) to pronounce them as a couple. They are usually played out the same as weddings, although substitutions may be made due to certain people's feelings about a gay couple marrying. Mainstream Smurfs Media In mainstream Smurfs media, there were two cases of wedding ceremonies that were being prepared by the Smurfs: one for the wedding of Papa Smurf and Flowerbell in "Papa's Wedding Day," and one for the wedding of Laconia and Woody in "Smurfily Ever After." The first wedding ceremony was halted when the Smurfs realized that Flowerbell only intended to marry Papa Smurf so that Lord Balthazar could capture him in exchange for her freedom. After Flowerbell confessed her guilt to the other Smurfs and helped them rescue Papa Smurf, they both parted from each other with Flowerbell not seen again until Woody and Laconia's wedding. The second wedding ceremony, which was prepared to be a monumental occasion for the woodelf couple, was ruined by the presence of Gargamel appearing at Bluebell Dell using his evil Ghoulliope to try capturing the Smurfs who attended the ceremony. After Smurfette and Laconia worked together to stop Gargamel's plan, the ceremony was brought back to the Smurf Village where Woody and Laconia used sign language to exchange vows with each other with Papa Smurf as the presiding minister. There were other wedding ceremonies that took place in mainstream Smurfs media: one where Gargamel was betrothed by his mother and Madame Lavinia to marry Andria the baron's daughter, and one where Prince Theodore was to marry Lady Jasmine, with Madame Lavinia also present. Both of these marriages were eventually called off, as in the first instance Gargamel had spotted a map to the Smurf Village in Andria's hope chest and wanted to get his hands on it. In the other instance, Lady Jasmine was only interested in marrying Prince Theodore for his money, and also Morlock the wizard had substituted Prince Theodore with a frog that he switched appearances with so that he could have control over the prince's kingdom. In the episode "Smurfette's Dancing Shoes", Smurfette was forced to marry the imp that was seeking after the ancient Treasure Of The Trolls, but the wedding ceremony was stopped by the Smurfs who met the imp's challenge of seeking after three items needed to access the Treasure Of The Trolls before dawn. Not intending to give up, the imp took Smurfette and the three items with him in his attempt to escape, but Papa Smurf used a magic spell to remove the magical dancing shoes from Smurfette's feet and placed them on the imp's, causing him to dance uncontrollably. In "Smurfette For A Day", Picklick the gnome intended to marry Smurfette, but with Hefty disguised as Smurfette taking her place beside him, the gnome ended up falling in love with Guardiana, and soon after the Smurfs were invited to attend their wedding. In the Johan And Peewit episode "The Impostor King," Princess Savina attended a wedding with her uncle The King and her friends Johan and Peewit, but whether this wedding was her own or not is left ambiguous. In the play The Three Smurfketeers, which took place in the episode of the same name, Smurfette's character had an arranged wedding with Prince Scaredy, which was interrupted by the Three Smurfketeers, who helped Clumsy's character become married to Smurfette's character instead. In "Chlorhydris' Lost Love", Chlorhydris was originally set to marry Manfred the Magnificent when her witch rival Drusilla showed up at the church to tell her that Manfred would never marry the likes of her, and as Chlorhydris waited for her fiance to arrive for the wedding, she was left heartbroken as he did not appear at the ceremony that day. Twenty years later, when Chlorhydris learned that Drusilla had imprisoned Manfred in her cave by turning him to stone, she had the Smurfs free Manfred from his petrified state to reunite him with his beloved, and thus afterward she started to make preparations for another wedding when Manfred was accidentally pierced by her black-heart arrows, causing his love for her to turn into hate. ''NOTE: Please DO NOT confuse weddings for marriage when submitting your fanfiction segments in this article, as a wedding is simply a ceremony that unites two people into marriage. If your segment only mentions a marriage but not a wedding, then it doesn't belong here and it will be removed.'' Empath: The Luckiest Smurf In Smurf culture Smurf weddings in the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series are mostly set up in the same manner as traditional weddings in Western cultures, except that the bride can have up to three bridesmaids and the groom can have up to three ushers, whereas the normal limit for humans is two bridesmaids and two ushers. Only one male and one female can be united together in a wedding ceremony as a couple, which meant that the ceremonies were strictly held for heterosexual monogamous unions, since the Smurf belief system dictates that by the decree of nature male and female shall be united together in order to reap the blessings of love and family. In the series, there were a few other known wedding ceremonies that took place. In the novel, there was the wedding of Empath and Smurfette that took place ten years after Empath's final return from Psychelia, which Chlorhydris tried to ruin by abducting Smurfette and removing her heart so that she would not feel love for any Smurf. (The full details of the wedding are recorded in "Empath's Wedding".) Prior to this, Smurfette during her private times with Empath in the Imaginarium created mock wedding ceremonies where she imagined herself being married to her other fellow Smurfs such as Hefty. Papa Smurf in the story "Flowerbell's Love Triangle" was married to Flowerbell the woodnymph at a ceremony arranged by the Smurfs as a surprise to Avarice the imp, who was expecting to be married to Flowerbell. Because the wedding was prepared in such a short time, it lacked all the trappings of a traditional wedding, with the male Smurfs just wearing ties and Smurfette and Sassette just dressing up in their best clothes. With the Smurfs meeting their Smurfette counterparts from Smurfette Island, there were weddings of various types, including Grouchy and Broccoli's private wedding. A few years after Papa Smurf's death, Empath presided over the wedding of Snappy and Sassette. In an alternate timeline explored by Traveler Smurf, Papa Smurf had railroaded the entire village into marrying him with his prospective bride Smurfette, which made the entire wedding ceremony and the following reception rather joyless for most of the young adult Smurfs as they did not see this union to be appropriate for both parties. In another timeline, Hefty and Smurfette had a wedding ceremony that was well-received by most of their fellow Smurfs, with only Tapper and Duncan McSmurf wishing that Smurfette could have married Empath instead, who in that timeline was returned to Psychelia. There were some unique types of weddings among the Smurfs in Empath's generation that took place sometime after they met their counterparts on Smurfette Island. Tapper and Siobhan's wedding had a human Christian pastor named Father Doyle as its minister, while Duncan and Brenda's wedding was more militaristic, styled after the ancient weddings of the Clan McSmurf. In other cultures In Psychelia, the ritual is referred to as the Day Of Bondship, and it is mostly to pair two Psyches of the same sex in a binding lifelong relationship that is devoid of any sort of feelings between the partners, though they can both engage in what is called dream sharing. A member of the Cleric rank as well as two Guard Elites are present at the bonding ceremony to prevent either party from backing out of the ritual which is demanded by the Psyche Master through the Psychelian belief system. A modified form of the Day Of Bondship ritual was used for Polaris' wedding ceremony with his bride Sympathy Smurfette. Apart from the Smurf Village and Psychelia, there was the wedding of King Gerard and Princess Guinevere, which Empath, Smurfette, Polaris Psyche, and Brainy had attended as guests and witnesses. A year or so before Empath's final return from Psychelia, Papa Smurf presided over a private wedding ceremony between Bigmouth and Bignose to unite them as a couple, since the ogres couldn't find a priest among the humans who would marry them. LD Stories/Expanded AU Since no one has yet held a wedding, this section will be expanded later! Expanded AU Exclusives Soley existing in the Expanded AU, there is at least one pairing set to hold a wedding. Details to be released later. Hero: The Guardian Smurf stories: In the HERO: The Guardian Smurf story series, there is an additional role of the hatbearer in the cermony, who presents the bride with the hat of the groom she is going to marry if he wears a different style or color hat from that of the bride or their Smurf peers. This role has so far only appeared to be in use with Hero and Smurfette's wedding in real-life, whereas in the Imaginarium it has been used in Fergus and Wonder's wedding as well as Hero and Vexy's wedding. As far as weddings that took place, there was the wedding of Hero and Wonder which was almost ruined by Chlorhydris and Hogatha working together to abduct both Wonder and Smurfette, which required Hero and Hawkeye to rescue. Around his 500s, Hero married Smurfette sometime after his first wife had passed away, with a wedding ceremony similar to that of his first marriage. In both weddings, Papa Smurf served as the minister. Abloec would serve as minister to the weddings of his fellow Smurfs after they receive mates created through the Mirror Of Opposition on a day designated as Marriage Day, as well as Oracle and Saviour's wedding. In the story adaptation "The Grey Smurfs", the Grey Smurfs attempted to hold a wedding ceremony to marry Smurfette and Wonder to Grey Hero, but Hero used the combined power of the Power Stones to prevent the wedding from taking place. Glovey stories In Smurf Me Up!, Glovey and Smurfette have a secret wedding in the forest. The wedding was kept a secret from all the Smurfs. The only witnesses were the Smurflings, Baby Smurf, Grandpa, and Tailor. However, during Clumsy and Claire's wedding, every Smurf in the village was there to witness it. See Also * Bachelor party, a pre-wedding event held for the groom. * Bridal shower, a pre-wedding event held for the bride. 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